The official 36" zelos twin modding thread

[Keagan-Z06]

The wait time is because I don't live in the US. So i gotta get it shipped to a courier who only receives stuff on Monday or Thursday's because the Cargo plane only arrives on those days.

[Keagan-Z06]

Just came back from the river, something may be up. Either my GPS is lying to me, the boat set up is seriously out of whack or my eye sight is failing me. Checked the GPS with Octura 447 and mustered 49.7mph. It was around 18mph winds and was running with it not against it. I believe my struts need servicing as I have black smut coming out of it on both sides. I have never adjusted struts, just prop change. Packs all the way forward as they can go. Will try again when I get a chance again with 4 packs. I'm hoping just like Erroneous my ESC and GPS are not happy with each other.

[ChevyPrerunner]

Brian, sucks to see those props broke. May be time to step up to some ABC props and S&B them. Darin Jordan explained a baking process to harden the props. I'll try and find the email and post the info.

What's up brother, Baking hmmm sounds like a great idea hope to hear about this a lil more thanks!!

[Rafael_Lopez]

Voracity steering servo toast! Another month of waiting ��

Not to sound like an A-hole, but considering Horizon sending all these parts for free, it's not a bad thing. Most manufacturers would have stopped supporting the boat by now, if they even sported the boat at all. Our warranty is actually free of defects at the time of purchase, meaning if it worked when you turned it on for the first time, the warranty is done. As MxKid261 said, burning through things is all part of the hobby. I can't tell you how many parts I've burned through in my 11 consecutive years back in the hobby, and most of the time I just ordered replacement myself; never bothered calling for a replacement.

[Keagan-Z06]

Not to sound like an A-hole, but considering Horizon sending all these parts for free, it's not a bad thing. Most manufacturers would have stopped supporting the boat by now, if they even sported the boat at all. Our warranty is actually free of defects at the time of purchase, meaning if it worked when you turned it on for the first time, the warranty is done. As MxKid261 said, burning through things is all part of the hobby. I can't tell you how many parts I've burned through in my 11 consecutive years back in the hobby, and most of the time I just ordered replacement myself; never bothered calling for a replacement.

Not in anyway expecting Horizon to do my replacements, I was more referring to me ordering my own parts and still having to wait due to where I live. Its a complicated process Rafael, no ship to door here!

[Fluid]

...I believe my struts need servicing as I have black smut coming out of it on both sides...

How often are you removing the shafts, cleaning and lubing them? The manual says every 20 minutes of running, but IMO it should be after every day at the river. Not doing so will allow the water in the struts to rust the cables, and the next step is - broken cables.

As far as your GPS speed being low, running with the wind reduces tunnel lift, and combined with a forward CG the boat could be plowing a bit, sucking up speed. Too, how fast is the river flowing and are you running upstream or downstream? The GPS measures speed relative to land, not moving water. Hard to say without seeing it.


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[Keagan-Z06]

Lol thanks for chiming in. I am running downstream. I grease my flex shaft before and after every run. How difficult is strut servicing? I recall someone on here did that and they use loctite to assemble back? If I have time I will go back tomorrow and give it another go. Should I leave my strut angle stock?

[Fluid]

I am not certain about "servicing" the struts. As long as the cables are kept clean and lubed the strut bearings should last a long time.

Strut angle depends on the prop, CG and water conditions. The factory manual has a good procedure on adjustment. The baseline is the struts perfectly flat, the factory manual has a good procedure on adjustment. To loosen up the boat, raise the rear of the struts slightly, a little at a time and try. It may all change if you change props, but mostly it will be from changing prop types (like from Octura X-series to ABC, etc.).

What I do is set the CG at the recommended position and adjust the struts to tune the boat's attitude so that it is running on the last two sponson pads on relatively calm water, or the average water you will run on (waves and wind). This way I can move the packs forward on a very windy day to keep the boat from blowing off, and move them back for smoother water. There are other ways to do it, but that's what I do.


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[Keagan-Z06]

I am not certain about "servicing" the struts. As long as the cables are kept clean and lubed the strut bearings should last a long time.

Strut angle depends on the prop, CG and water conditions. The factory manual has a good procedure on adjustment. The baseline is the struts perfectly flat, the factory manual has a good procedure on adjustment. To loosen up the boat, raise the rear of the struts slightly, a little at a time and try. It may all change if you change props, but mostly it will be from changing prop types (like from Octura X-series to ABC, etc.).

What I do is set the CG at the recommended position and adjust the struts to tune the boat's attitude so that it is running on the last two sponson pads on relatively calm water, or the average water you will run on (waves and wind). This way I can move the packs forward on a very windy day to keep the boat from blowing off, and move them back for smoother water. There are other ways to do it, but that's what I do.


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Thanks man, will give it another go tomorrow hopefully. It's been pretty hot here too but tomorrow calls for less wind. Will see how that goes! I am running X447 sharpened and balanced.

[Rafael_Lopez]

So there are no hobby shops in Belize? I didn't realize you had to order every part from the states. I remember a lot of us used to order from HK in China and you'd be lucky if you saw your order sooner that 1 month.


As for the crud coming out of the drives, that's an accumulation of old grease. You don't need to take them apart to clean them. Here is how to I clean my drives, in any boat. Make sure to wear safety glasses and do this in a well ventilated area in a place where it doesn't matter if you make a mess around you. I do this over a rash can.

1. Buy carburetor, brake cleaner, or contact cleaner. It comes in spray can form and can be found at local auto supply shops. This stuff evaporates very quickly and leaves little to no residue.
2. Remove the flex shaft.
3. Spray flex shaft with cleaner and wipe clean. It helps if you have a old tooth brush to get all the old grease completely out from between the strands.
4. Take a napkin or old rag and use it to cover the stuffing tube end, inside of the boat. This is probably the most important part of doing this. Failing to properly place a rag or napkin on inside end of stuffing tube will result in a huge mess inside of the boat.
5. Spray the contact cleaner in to the stuffing tube, in 3-5 second bursts. Remember to wear safety glasses. This will allow the nastiness inside the stuffing tube to wash out. Keep spraying until you no longer see old grease wash out the stuffing tube.

Once you do what I mentioned above, you will notice your flex shafts will feel "looser". Grease the flex like normal and install it back in to boat.

[Keagan-Z06]

Thanks for the advice on the struts Rafael. No sir we do not have the luxury of that kinda shops here. I may be the only one that really shows interest here because when people see the V and Z they go nuts and it was the first time they had seen anything of the sort. Drones yes but not boats. The wait is excruciating but I will learn to live with it. Guess I'm just anxious to get on the water when the itch is there.

[Erroneous]

DX4s showed up today. Off with the head of the ol Airtronics. Hopefully get rid of random hickups and gain some range. Hitech digital high torque servo on the way as well. �� Full beastmode.

[Keagan-Z06]

I'm thinking about putting a Hitech Servo in my voracity, have you had any experience with those Erroneous or is this your first?

[kfxguy]

DX4s showed up today. Off with the head of the ol Airtronics. Hopefully get rid of random hickups and gain some range. Hitech digital high torque servo on the way as well. �� Full beastmode.

Did someone say beastmode? Lol

[Keagan-Z06]

that is a beautiful boat kfx!!

[kfxguy]

that is a beautiful boat kfx!!

Thanks. One of my favorites. Any time I hear beastmode, that thing comes to mind. I did 91.2mph with my first one just like it.

[Erroneous]

Thing is rediculous. Kinda diggin that green.. Im stuck on flat black with some kind of flat white accents for the Zelos. They should offer the Zelos hull/hatch in white (hint hint).. Like the look of your proto.

[Erroneous]

I'm thinking about putting a Hitech Servo in my voracity, have you had any experience with those Erroneous or is this your first?

Ive run their servos in my crawler and bashers for years. Never had a "waterproof" one before though. Never mattered. They are tough as ......

[Keagan-Z06]

I may give it a try. Thanks

[Keagan-Z06]

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52.9mph

[Rafael_Lopez]

Keagan how long are your passes? Most GPS units need to be held at max speed for more than 5-7 seconds to capture top speed. I find that to be the case with my 201.

[Darin Jordan]

Keagan how long are your passes? Most GPS units need to be held at max speed for more than 5-7 seconds to capture top speed. I find that to be the case with my 201.

Additionally... and something that should be noted... 52mph is pretty fast for an "out of the box" setup. Proper tuning and setup adjustments are going to be necessary to truly get to maximum speeds. Battery condition, Initial Battery Temps, etc., all are REALLY important. The difference between starting with 65-degree packs vs. 90-degree packs can EASILY be 1000-RPM... that's a LOT of MPH.

[Keagan-Z06]

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60.5mph

[kfxguy]

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I have some things you can do/check to push it past 60mph if your interested. As long as your just a little mechanically inclined you can do them. Let me know if your willing to do a little work.

[Keagan-Z06]

I got 60.5 as posted above just now.

Rafael, I think I'm running shy of that 7 seconds. The conditions weren't as flat as id like it to be but it was good enough to make passes. Will try and upload the 60.5mph run. For whatever reason I can't get my new SMC's to work, I had an electrician solder my ec5 plugs and he dropped solder in one of the connectors, so the male and female don't mate properly. Want to give those packs a try. It should be noted the 60.5 was with (2) 3s packs. I'm not convinced that the octura 447's are sharpened enough.

[Darin Jordan]

I got 60.5 as posted above just now.

THERE YOU GO!!

[Keagan-Z06]

Thanks for the support guys, I know I may have been a pain lately with my frustrations.
KFX-I am willing to try and get some more speed out the boat, hopefully I have all the supplies I'll need readily available.
Rafael- Any idea why the new ESC may not be going into programming mode? I connected it, turn them on and it just gave a beep every second or so. Would not emit the musical tone after following the instructions on page 9. I'm not sure if I will put back in the new one to try again today as I'm thinking I may go back to the river for a final run for the day. Really would want to get a run with 4 packs but currently I only have 3 dynamite 50c packs and the 2 new SMC 50c's.

[Keagan-Z06]

60.5 was done on the first attempt, on the second attempt I was running out of juice on the end as you can see.

[Brushless55]

I got 60.5 as posted above just now.

Rafael, I think I'm running shy of that 7 seconds. The conditions weren't as flat as id like it to be but it was good enough to make passes. Will try and upload the 60.5mph run. For whatever reason I can't get my new SMC's to work, I had an electrician solder my ec5 plugs and he dropped solder in one of the connectors, so the male and female don't mate properly. Want to give those packs a try. It should be noted the 60.5 was with (2) 3s packs. I'm not convinced that the octura 447's are sharpened enough.

I hope you can get those packs going
sounds like you're on your way to some faster speeds real soon :)

[Keagan-Z06]

I think I asked this ? Before but I figure I'd ask again to make sure. It's not wise to run 2 different brand packs? Correct?